‘Sea of hell’

Everyone loves a good old summer holiday – sun, sand, sea of hell – er, yes, that’s what the environmental bods at Greenpeace are calling the Mediterranean now – hardly the most tempting turn of phrase and a worrying glimpse at what climate change is doing to our rivers, seas and oceans…

The Med conjures up a cocktail of semi-clad bronzed tourists, suntan lotion and sunny summer holidays, but new research has found that the reality is more alien fish, algae and slime.

The effects of climate change have meant that the sea is now chocka with alien species such as poisonous puffer fish which are killing off other marine life, whilst algae are coating the seabed with slime.

In the new Greenpeace report, the ‘emergency in the Med’ has been documented for the first time and highlights the rising water temperature, which is attracting species from warmer seas and altering the native fish stock.

As the Med is home to between 5 and 15 per cent of the marine species known to man, despite representing less than one per cent of the world’s oceans, these findings are especially worrying.

Barracuda, previously found only in Sicily, are now also swimming off Liguria. A drop in whale and dolphin populations between Tuscany, Liguria, Monaco and Corsica could also be linked to climate change.

Greenpeace’s Alessandro Gianni, who compiled the dossier, said, “Until now we have only traced individual alarms for the Mediterranean, but now we finally have the complete picture of what’s happening in tourism and the environment.”

The Med’s deep waters were showing an annual temperature increase of 0.004 degrees, while surface waters and those along the coast were registering much greater increases.

It’s not just fish that are being affected either – sea sponges and coral are also in danger.

But other experts said the picture painted by Greenpeace was alarmist, but still agreed that it was crucial to step up research into the effects of climate change.

One of the best ways to help stave off the decline of the Med’s health is to create a series of marine reserves, so this is being looked into.

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